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Cards

Source: vignettes/cards/index.Rmd
index.Rmd

Cards are a common organizing unit for modern user interfaces (UI). At their core, they’re just rectangular containers with borders and padding. However, when utilized properly to group related information, they help users better digest, engage, and navigate through content. This is why most successful dashboard/UI frameworks make cards a core feature of their component library. This article provides an overview of the API that bslib provides to create Bootstrap cards.

Setup code

To demonstrate that bslib cards work outside of Shiny (i.e., in R Markdown, static HTML, etc), we’ll make repeated use of statically rendered htmlwidgets like plotly and leaflet. Here’s some code to create those widgets:

library(bslib)
library(shiny)
library(htmltools)
library(plotly)
library(leaflet)

plotly_widget <- plot_ly(x = diamonds$cut) %>%
  config(displayModeBar = FALSE) %>%
  layout(margin = list(t = 0, b = 0, l = 0, r = 0))

leaflet_widget <- leafletOptions(attributionControl = FALSE) %>%
  leaflet(options = .) %>%
  addTiles()

Shiny usage

Cards work equally well in Shiny. In the examples below, replace plotly_widget with plotlyOutput() and leaflet_widget with leafletOutput() to adapt them for Shiny server-rendered plots/maps.

Hello card()

A card() is designed to handle any number of “known” card items (e.g., card_header(), card_body(), etc) as unnamed arguments (i.e., children). As we’ll see shortly, card() also has some useful named arguments (e.g., full_screen, height, etc).

At their core, card() and card items are just an HTML div() with a special Bootstrap class, so you can use Bootstrap’s utility classes to customize things like colors, text, borders, etc.

card(
  card_header(
    class = "bg-dark",
    "A header"
  ),
  card_body(
    markdown("Some text with a [link](https://github.com)")
  )
)
A header

Some text with a link

Implicit card_body()

If you find yourself using card_body() without changing any of its defaults, consider dropping it altogether since any direct children of card() that aren’t “known” card() items, are wrapped together into an implicit card_body() call.1 For example, the code to the right generates HTML that is identical to the previous example:

card(
  card_header(
    class = "bg-dark",
    "A header"
  ),
  markdown("Some text with a [link](https://github.com).")
)
A header

Some text with a link.

Restricting growth

By default, a card()’s size grows to accommodate the size of it’s contents. Thus, if a card_body() contains a large amount of text, tables, etc., you may want to specify a height or max_height. That said, when laying out multiple cards, it’s likely best not to specify height on the card(), and instead, let the layout determine the height layout_column_wrap().

Although scrolling is convenient for reducing the amount of space required to park lots of content, it can also be a nuisance to the user. To help reduce the need for scrolling, consider pairing scrolling with full_screen = TRUE (which adds an icon to expand the card’s size to the browser window). Notice how, when the card is expanded to full-screen, max_height/height won’t effect the full-screen size of the card.

card(
  max_height = 250,
  full_screen = TRUE,
  card_header(
    "A long, scrolling, description"
  ),
  lorem::ipsum(paragraphs = 3, sentences = 5)
)
A long, scrolling, description

Dolor enim pretium vitae – id luctus magna suscipit et ullamcorper est aenean erat? Suspendisse nostra, auctor eros sagittis imperdiet varius parturient cursus cras pretium blandit. Velit bibendum integer nec curae vehicula; cras justo duis; lacinia nunc. Imperdiet augue sapien aptent a congue orci blandit aliquet ultricies potenti. Morbi malesuada eget curae tempus laoreet egestas justo eros.

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Elit dis nunc fringilla hendrerit iaculis fringilla, cum commodo sollicitudin: rhoncus phasellus. Augue lacus nec vehicula ut, quisque placerat aliquet aliquet sapien ligula. Non sem enim nunc posuere odio lacinia, odio condimentum purus? Scelerisque curae malesuada ultricies, natoque curae viverra – ante molestie mollis? Iaculis congue aliquam ullamcorper viverra!

Filling outputs

A card()’s default behavior is optimized for facilitating filling layouts. More specifically, if a fill item (e.g., plotly_widget), appears as a direct child of a card_body(), it resizes to fit the card()s specified height. This means, by specifying height = 250 we’ve effectively shrunk the plot’s height from its default of 400 down to about 200 pixels. And, when expanded to full_screen, the plot grows to match the card()’s new size.

card(
  height = 250,
  full_screen = TRUE,
  card_header("A filling plot"),
  card_body(plotly_widget)
)
A filling plot

Most htmlwidgets (e.g., plotly, leaflet, etc) and some other Shiny output bindings (e.g, plotOutput(), imageOutput(), etc) are fill items by default, so this behavior “just works” in those scenarios. And, in some of these situations, it’s helpful to remove card_body()’s padding, which can be done via spacing & alignment utility classes.

card(
  height = 275,
  full_screen = TRUE,
  card_header("A filling map"),
  card_body(
    class = "p-0",
    leaflet_widget
  ),
  card_footer(
    class = "fs-6",
    "Copyright 2023 RStudio, PBC"
  )
)
A filling map
Copyright 2023 RStudio, PBC

Fill item(s) aren’t limited in how much they grow and shrink, which can be problematic when a card becomes very small. To work around this, consider adding a min_height on the card_body() container. For example, try using the handle on the lower-right portion of this card example to make the card taller/smaller.

This interactive example is a bit contrived in that we’re using CSS resize to demonstrate how to make plots that don’t shrink beyond a certain point, but this concept becomes quite useful when implementing page-level filling layouts (i.e., page_fillable()) with multiple cards.

card(
  height = 300,
  style = "resize:vertical;",
  card_header("Plots that grow but don't shrink"),
  card_body(
    min_height = 250,
    plotly_widget,
    plotly_widget
  )
)
Plots that grow but don't shrink

Troubleshooting fill

As you’ll learn more about in filling layouts, a fill item loses its ability to fill when wrapped in additional UI element that isn’t a fillable container. To fix the situation, use as_fill_carrier() to allow the additional element to carry the potential to fill from the card_body() down to the fill item.

Multiple card_body()

A card() can have multiple card_body()s, which is especially useful for:

  1. Combining both resizable and non-resizable contents (i.e., fill items and non-fill).
  2. Allowing each card_body() to have their own styling (via inline styles and/or utility classes) and resizing limits (e.g., min_height).

For example, when pairing filling output with scrolling content, you may want min_height on the filling output since the scrolling content will force it to shrink:

card(
  height = 375,
  full_screen = TRUE,
  card_header(
    "Filling plot, scrolling description"
  ),
  card_body(
    min_height = 200,
    plotly_widget
  ),
  card_body(
    class = "lead container",
    lorem::ipsum(paragraphs = 10, sentences = 5)
  )
)
Filling plot, scrolling description

Dolor commodo vulputate augue quisque quam. Duis tortor: odio platea natoque porttitor aliquam! Malesuada tempus sem feugiat senectus senectus; nascetur curabitur auctor facilisis risus? Ultricies vehicula nisi pharetra sociosqu ligula cras a cubilia parturient pulvinar rutrum. Et enim nostra inceptos lobortis ullamcorper pretium eleifend facilisis posuere orci.

Consectetur nibh diam mollis ac urna, felis mauris libero? Class habitant cras – platea fermentum, fringilla aliquam netus diam, cras leo suspendisse leo ligula. Tellus tellus ultricies, eleifend varius mauris condimentum ultrices aptent curabitur natoque? Id dictumst dictumst pretium egestas tincidunt quisque justo litora. Vulputate eget platea tempus.

Ipsum senectus torquent dis lectus eleifend erat: volutpat dis varius dignissim purus. Habitasse duis arcu ullamcorper pharetra urna, urna, viverra fusce condimentum habitant neque diam. Sem nisi; lectus neque volutpat egestas penatibus vestibulum tempus morbi torquent. Porta nisl eleifend, ultricies nam vehicula sollicitudin magna eleifend facilisis dictum. Ullamcorper.

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Ipsum hac penatibus erat cursus vel ornare netus conubia a. Aptent hendrerit rhoncus duis volutpat iaculis id. Aliquam mauris montes nulla eros lacus sollicitudin fusce nullam. Viverra eros placerat penatibus est class montes porta nam mi! Suscipit potenti parturient lacus massa habitasse vel velit dictum, condimentum vestibulum accumsan mus nostra, imperdiet cras ut ad?

Consectetur urna feugiat diam sollicitudin congue, auctor: nulla ultrices a a? Sollicitudin nec ultrices convallis; aenean integer magnis euismod imperdiet; est, etiam a morbi per cum. Diam molestie hendrerit natoque sem cras vivamus ante orci habitant. Enim orci massa tincidunt convallis laoreet viverra fringilla elementum curae pulvinar. Facilisis at iaculis dignissim tempus eleifend?

Elit parturient ante suspendisse, facilisis sociosqu cum, erat a libero. Netus pretium curabitur nam, dapibus aptent pharetra. Ultricies nec quis condimentum per mauris; lacinia laoreet interdum. Mus aliquam nostra volutpat risus posuere massa tellus condimentum nullam parturient. Tortor vitae ante condimentum enim nostra tempus vestibulum interdum aliquet nunc!

Lorem dictumst potenti habitant sed vehicula: class ac hac. Ultricies consequat metus justo vel phasellus, primis eros sed senectus nec; euismod vitae venenatis? Auctor auctor turpis quis, et vulputate morbi laoreet. Odio tincidunt himenaeos platea habitant – fringilla maecenas placerat mattis egestas nulla dis. Non conubia venenatis dui laoreet donec mauris nec at malesuada urna.

Elit viverra condimentum at dignissim, rutrum donec velit. Suscipit magnis per facilisis nulla venenatis aliquam parturient sodales duis euismod. Eleifend sollicitudin hendrerit id ad donec mauris sociosqu platea. Tempor ac sodales posuere mi dictumst cum suscipit pretium. Curabitur cum mi turpis penatibus iaculis tincidunt.

Also, when the content has a fixed size, and should not be allowed to scroll, set fill = FALSE:

card(
  height = 350,
  full_screen = TRUE,
  card_header(
    "Filling plot, short description"
  ),
  plotly_widget,
  card_body(
    fill = FALSE,
    card_title("A subtitle"),
    p(class = "text-muted", "And a caption")
  )
)
Filling plot, short description
A subtitle

And a caption

Multiple columns

As you’ll learn in column-based layouts, layout_column_wrap() is great for multi-column layouts that are responsive and accommodate for filling output. Here we have an equal-width 2-column layout using width = 1/2, but it’s also possible to have varying column widths.

card(
  height = 350,
  full_screen = TRUE,
  card_header("A multi-column filling layout"),
  card_body(
    min_height = 200,
    layout_column_wrap(
      width = 1/2,
      plotOutput("p1"),
      plotOutput("p2")
    )
  ),
  lorem::ipsum(paragraphs = 3, sentences = 5)
)
A multi-column filling layout

Consectetur sodales pharetra tempor, varius phasellus pretium tempus etiam nascetur. Taciti euismod morbi, dictum mi ullamcorper semper metus. Faucibus eros habitant volutpat porta consequat pharetra felis faucibus: morbi ante ac. Risus metus malesuada accumsan venenatis aenean iaculis sollicitudin quis mus vivamus eu. Euismod tempor nulla potenti suscipit, vehicula senectus odio, augue elementum – molestie diam aliquet interdum dictumst parturient risus rhoncus suspendisse?

Elit netus auctor felis condimentum; enim class nisl accumsan massa quis. Venenatis nunc quisque gravida mattis himenaeos, convallis id class natoque interdum metus. Sociosqu magna habitasse volutpat et; duis, enim integer duis. Dictumst eleifend hendrerit viverra vestibulum non, elementum fringilla! Nec risus placerat ut sem egestas; facilisi non ullamcorper eu.

Amet vehicula cubilia ligula purus, justo condimentum natoque sapien fermentum. Aliquet id quisque, tellus vitae id – mus diam nec cum hac turpis. Vestibulum venenatis mauris blandit – placerat natoque, vel – faucibus posuere gravida dis semper dui leo? Ornare montes mattis cum dis. Odio porttitor ullamcorper etiam hendrerit auctor phasellus litora ridiculus a nostra fames.

Multiple cards

layout_column_wrap() is especially nice for laying out multiple cards since each card in a particular row will have the same height (by default). Learn more in column-based layouts.

layout_column_wrap(
  width = 1/2,
  height = 300,
  card(full_screen = TRUE, card_header("A filling plot"), plotly_widget),
  card(full_screen = TRUE, card_header("A filling map"), card_body(class = "p-0", leaflet_widget))
)
A filling plot
A filling map

Multiple tabs

navset_card_tab() and navset_card_pill() make it possible to create cards with multiple tabs or pills. These functions have the same full_screen capabilities as normal card()s as well some other options like title (since there is no natural place for a card_header() to be used). Note that, each nav_panel() object is similar to a card(). That is, if the direct children aren’t already card items (e.g., card_title()), they get implicitly wrapped in a card_body().

library(leaflet)
navset_card_tab(
  height = 450,
  full_screen = TRUE,
  title = "HTML Widgets",
  nav_panel(
    "Plotly",
    card_title("A plotly plot"),
    plotly_widget
  ),
  nav_panel(
    "Leaflet",
    card_title("A leaflet plot"),
    leaflet_widget
  ),
  nav_panel(
    shiny::icon("circle-info"),
    markdown("Learn more about [htmlwidgets](http://www.htmlwidgets.org/)")
  )
)
HTML Widgets
  • Plotly
  • Leaflet
A plotly plot
A leaflet plot

Learn more about htmlwidgets

Sidebars

As you’ll learn more about in sidebar layouts, layout_sidebar() just works when placed inside in a card(). In this case, if you want fill items (e.g., plotly_widget) to still fill the card like we’ve seen before, you’ll need to set fillable = TRUE in layout_sidebar().

card(
  height = 300,
  full_screen = TRUE,
  card_header("A sidebar layout inside a card"),
  layout_sidebar(
    fillable = TRUE,
    sidebar = sidebar(
      actionButton("btn", "A button")
    ),
    plotly_widget
  )
)
A sidebar layout inside a card

Static images

card_image() makes it easy to embed static (i.e., pre-generated) images into a card. Provide a URL to href to make it clickable. In the case of multiple card_image()s, consider laying them out in multiple cards with layout_column_wrap() to produce a grid of clickable thumbnails.

card(
  height = 300,
  full_screen = TRUE,
  card_image(
    file = "shiny-hex.svg",
    href = "https://github.com/rstudio/shiny"
  ),
  card_body(
    fill = FALSE,
    card_title("Shiny for R"),
    p(
      class = "fw-light text-muted",
      "Brought to you by RStudio."
    )
  )
)
Shiny for R

Brought to you by RStudio.

Flexbox

Both card() and card_body() default to fillable = TRUE (that is, they are CSS flexbox containers), which works wonders for facilitating filling outputs, but it also leads to surprising behavior with inline tags (e.g., actionButton(), span(), strings, etc). Specifically, each inline tag is placed on a new line, but in a “normal” layout flow (fillable = FALSE), inline tags render inline.

card(
  card_body(
    fillable = TRUE,
    "Here's some", tags$i("inline"), "text",
    actionButton("btn1", "A button")
  ),
  card_body(
    fillable = FALSE,
    "Here's some", tags$i("inline"), "text",
    actionButton("btn2", "A button")
  )
)
Here's some inline text
Here's some inline text

That said, sometimes working in a flexbox layout is quite useful, even when working with inline tags. Here we leverage flexbox’s gap property to control the spacing between a plot, a (full-width) button, and paragraph. Note that, by using markdown() for the paragraph, it wraps the results in a <p> tag, which means the contents of the paragraph are not longer subject to flexbox layout. If we wanted, we could do something similar to render the actionButton() inline by wrapping it in a div().

card(
  height = 325, full_screen = TRUE,
  card_header("A plot with an action links"),
  card_body(
    class = "gap-2 container",
    plotly_widget,
    actionButton(
      "go_btn", "Action button",
      class = "btn-primary rounded-0"
    ),
    markdown("Here's a _simple_ [hyperlink](https://www.google.com/).")
  )
)
A plot with an action links

Here's a simple hyperlink.

In addition to gap, flexbox has really nice ways of handling otherwise difficult spacing and alignment issues. And, thanks to Bootstrap’s flex utility classes, we can easily opt-in and customize defaults.

card(
  height = 300, full_screen = TRUE,
  card_header(
    class = "d-flex justify-content-between",
    "Centered plot",
    checkboxInput("check", " Check me", TRUE)
  ),
  card_body(
    class = "align-items-center",
    plotOutput("id", width = "75%")
  )
)
Centered plot

Shiny

Since this article is statically rendered, the examples here use statically rendered content/widgets, but the same card() functionality works for dynamically rendered content via Shiny (e.g., plotOutput(), plotlyOutput(), etc).

An additional benefit that comes with using shiny is the ability to use getCurrentOutputInfo() to render new/different content when the output container becomes large enough, which is particularly useful with card(full_screen = T, ...). For example, you may want additional captions/labels when a plot is large, additional controls on a table, etc (see the value boxes article for a clever use of this).

# UI logic
ui <- page_fluid(
  card(
    max_height = 200,
    full_screen = TRUE,
    card_header("A dynamically rendered plot"),
    plotOutput("plot_id")
  )
)

# Server logic
server <- function(input, output, session) {
  output$plot_id <- renderPlot({
    info <- getCurrentOutputInfo()
    if (info$height() > 600) {
      # code for "large" plot
    } else {
      # code for "small" plot
    }
  })
}

shinyApp(ui, server)

Appendix

The following CSS is used to give plotOutput() a background color; it’s necessary here because this documentation page is not actually hooked up to a Shiny app, so we can’t show a real plot.

.shiny-plot-output {
  background-color: #216B7288;
  height: 400px;
  width: 100%;
}

On this page

Developed by Carson Sievert, Joe Cheng, Garrick Aden-Buie, Posit Software, PBC.

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